NEW DELHI, 15 July 2004 — US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage yesterday apologized to India’s former Defense Minister George Fernandes after claims he was strip-searched twice during official visits to the United States.
“On the way in the car here, I had the opportunity to telephone my good friend George Fernandes and I told him that I had heard about this problem that he had had and that I was horrified about it and I personally apologized to him,” the US official, who is on a two-day visit to India, told reporters.
Allegations that Fernandes was strip-searched when entering the United States were made by US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott in his book “Engaging India — Diplomacy, Democracy and the Bomb.”
Talbott said Fernandes had been “strip-searched” twice — once on an official visit to Washington in 2002 and the second en route to Brazil in 2003.
Earlier yesterday, the US Embassy in a statement also apologized to Fernandes for failing to follow “diplomatic procedures” when he entered the United States but denied charges he was strip-searched.
“We are sorry these procedures were not observed in the case of the defense minister’s 2003 transit of the US,” the spokeswoman said.
